Dude, don't listen to the radio. I hear contemporary artist who actually shred!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about guys who forgot it wasn't the 80's anymore, but listen to this:

http://www.freakkitchen.com/downloads/mp3/spanking_02.mp3
That's freack kitchen

Now here:
http://www.ronthal.com/sounds/RonThal-solo-1999-unknown.mp3
That's Ron thal.

They aren't shredders in the 80's way, but they rock, and their music sounds exciting and fresh.